A NEW DIRECTOR AND A NEW DIRECTION

Richard Gooding was from Chicago. His family was of the upper crust, his father a VP at Gulf Oil. He had been "disowned" by them as a result of his stance on the war and his decision to resist it. (This was a very common repercussion for many resisters. Sadly it only served to worsen an already worse enough situation.) Anyway, Richard was an aspiring writer. He had worked for Life Magazine. He had been drafted several years before me and he and his wife, Susan, had opted for Canada instead of Richard going to prison. Richard was a very strongly principled person, perhaps that was why we hit it off so well? He had seriously considered going to prison before realizing that that was actually not a viable, or rational option.

Richard was a "veteran" of the movement. He hadn't burned out on it though like Bill and some of the others. He still felt that fire burn within him. He still held that passion in his heart for doing what was right. He became a mentor of sorts and a very good friend. (I last spoke with him about three years ago after he had appeared on the Geraldo Rivera Show. He was a reporter covering the Jon Benet Ramsey case.) Richard took over the Directorship of The Council sometime in mid 1971, I honestly can't remember the date. He guided it through it's transition into The ARS. He was a sincere and genuine human being. It was Richard who actually brought me officially into the fold of The Montreal Council. He had already personally aided me in my being able to stay in Canada by posting my bond for my appeal hearing regarding my denial for Landed Status, now he offered me a position as a counselor with The Council.

It was a salaried position counseling and assisting other resisters in their efforts to remain in Canada. The positions of counselor as well as that of the director were paid for by contributions from a number of sources, some of which might surprise most. The National Council Of Churches was our primary benefactor, The World Council Of Churches being the other major contributor. Our group, along with the other three "majors" and several lesser committees and councils throughout Canada, were paid for with money which came primarily from The United States. We had regular meetings with the directors of the Church Councils, usually in Toronto. Representatives from the other committees and aid groups would gather and we'd all fight over who got how much and why. It eventually turned into a numbers game. Whichever group was pushing the most heads through the gate per month usually used this fact to their advantage. Being in Montreal and Toronto, the largest cities in Canada, by sheer volume of people opting for a city in Canada, more often than not one of the two of us would have the highest numbers. This would sit less and less well with the other groups as time went on, especially with Tim Maloney, Jerry Olson and the bunch from the Winnipeg Program.

For the most part, the folks that ran the Toronto Anti Draft Programme and myself got along great. Dick Brown, Katie Mcgovern and Dan, who's last name escapes me just now, and I, had very few problems between us. In fact, without fail after every conference or meeting we'd all end up drunk together in some German beer garden that Dick and Dan were fans of. The directors of the other groups however, those that represented Vancouver and Winnipeg, for the most part, were complete asses. Larry Martin, from Vancouver had his likeable days but that was when we were all out together doing something completely unrelated to our common bond. The rest of his lot and especially Tim and Jerry and their crew in Winnipeg were just complete pompous asses. That's the only way to describe them. They would have been pomous asses had they joined the army, now they were just pompous asses resisting joining the army. It was just a fact of life. In the beginning I had very little dealings with these people but once Richard left and I became the Director, I was "forced" into being the one who had to wallow with the masses.

As for the other, "lesser" groups, Halifax and Calgary, for the most part, they were operated on a part-time basis and really had no permanent director per se. They simply had respresentatives who took turns attending the national meetings and conferences. To tell you the truth, not a single name comes to mind. They were pretty uninspiring both in their presence and in their performance. Few resisters chose to go to Halifax in the first place unless they already knew somebody there. And as far as Calgary was concerned, no body went there unless Bill Mullins sent them

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Gary W. Davis.
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